The Havelock Rams trailed 3-0 and had only cranked out two base hits through five innings Thursday against West Carteret, before eventually falling 6-4.

Leadoff man Pharoh Cooper hit a double off the left field wall in the top of the sixth that just missed leaving the park.

RBI singles from Will Blythe and Ryan Lewis cut the Rams’ deficit to 3-2 after six.

West Carteret then pounded out three runs on three hits in the top of the seventh for a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the frame.

Cooper came up again in the seventh with two outs and reached on a single, followed by another single from Blythe.

Freshman Cameron Carpenter hit a roller back to relief pitcher Patrick Field, who proceeded to fire the ball into right field, allowing Cooper and Blythe to reach home and make it a 6-4 game.

Field then struck out pinch-hitter David Escobar, ending the game.

“We had a shot there when we got it to 3-2, but made an error and some bad pitches and dug ourselves right back into a hole in the top of the seventh and we can’t do that,” Havelock coach Charlie Smith said. “We have to get better offensively. We haven’t been hitting well. I’ve thought we’ve gotten very solid pitching performances out of this team, and we practice our offense and guys get hot here and there, but we have to be more consistent.”

Cooper and Blythe both went 2-for-4 and accounted for four of Havelock’s seven hits in the contest. Lewis, a sophomore second baseman, had two more, going 2-for-3 for the game.

Josh Little started on the mound for Havelock, tossing five innings, allowing three runs (one earned) with one walk and three strikeouts.

“I thought Josh (Little) was awesome tonight. Aron (Rossi) came in and struggled a little bit in relief, but our pitching has carried us this year,” Smith said. “Most of our guys’ batting averages on the team aren’t much higher than our pitchers’ ERAs and that’s never a good thing. We just have to get our hitting going better.”

Havelock falls to 6-7 on the year and 2-4 in the Coastal Conference.

The Rams will play Heritage Friday in the Easter tournament at D.H. Conley High School in Greenville.